UN landmine project resumes in northern Sri Lanka
Date: 16-Sep-99
Country: SRI LANKA
"The demining started on Monday after the completion of an inquiry which
decided that it was purely an accident because the mine was damaged by
burning and tilted towards the deminer," said the spokeswoman of the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
"Locals burn suspected mined areas and this mine detonated accidently,"
she added.
The Zimbabwean, a member of the Mine-Tech team that is using four German
shepherd dogs to sniff out landmines, suffered leg, arm and eye injuries
in the explosion last week.
The UNDP declined to give the man's name, but the spokeswoman said he
had recovered and would return to work next week.
The UNDP-coordinated project began on July 10 after a delay of nearly 18
months and was stopped temporarily for the inquiry after the accident.
Military spokesman Brigadier Sunil Tennakoon told a news conference last
week that 23 unexploded bombs, including mortars, and 378 anti-personnel
mines had been removed.
He said the team was working in three regions in Jaffna that had been
identified for resettlement and cultivation. They were also near a
university on the peninsula.
Landmines and unexploded ordnance wound an average of 10 people every
month on the Jaffna peninsula, the former stronghold of the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.
The LTTE have been fighting for an independent homeland for minority
Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east since 1983 in a conflict that has
killed tens of thousands of people.